Former porn star Mia Khalifa was terminated by Playboy after making "disgusting and reprehensible comments" about the attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, who Khalifa referred to as "freedom fighters."
Roughly 1,600 people have been killed after Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel on Saturday, prompting a retaliatory response from the Israeli military. Thousands were also wounded in the fighting while others were abducted by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.
In an email addressed to Playboy's creator community, the company said it made the decision to "terminate Playboy's relationship with Mia Khalifa, including deleting Mia's Playboy channel on our creator platform."
"Over the past few days, Mia has made disgusting and reprehensible comments celebrating Hamas' attacks on Israel and the murder of innocent men, women and children," Playboy wrote. "At Playboy, we encourage free expression and constructive political debate, but we have a zero tolerance policy for hate speech. We expect Mia to understand that her words and actions have consequences."
Khalifa, a Lebanese-American adult film performer who was once PornHub's highest-ranked adult star, has long referred to Israel as an "apartheid" state. She also famously received threats from ISIS for wearing a hijab while shooting a sex scene.
Shortly after Hamas launched its Saturday attack on Israel – the largest in decades – Khalifa wrote on X, "If you can look at the situation in Palestine and not be on the side of Palestinians, then you are on the wrong side of apartheid and history will show that in time."
The ex-porn star asked in another post on Saturday if someone could "please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal." She replied to this post two days later by saying, "this statement in no way shape or form is enticing spread of violence, I specifically said freedom fighters because that’s what the Palestinian citizens are… fighting for freedom every day."
"I can’t believe the Zionist apartheid regime is being brought down by guerrilla fighters in fake Gucci shirts - the biopics of these moments better reflect that," Khalifa wrote in another post.
The email from Playboy also included the letter it sent to the adult film star informing her of its decision to cut ties.
"Playboy has always been a champion of free speech," the letter to Khalifa read. "We have fought in courts for the rights of all people to speak free from any governmental interference. For seventy years we have highlighted different viewpoints in the pages of our magazine, on our websites, in the symposia that we've hosted, and from the thought-leaders, creators and artists who we've platformed on our various forms of media.
"We also have no place in our company nor on our platforms for speech that is hateful and dehumanizing. Your recent statements celebrating Hamas' attacks on innocent men, women and children in Israel, including rape, mutilation, killing and torture, are disgusting and reprehensible. Consequently, we are hereby permanently terminating you from the Playboy creator platform and ending all other business dealings we may have with you."
The letter continued, "We want to be very clear, we respect your right to free speech. We also expect that you understand that how you use your speech has consequences. Today, we are calling you out on your hate-mongering and severing all ties with you. We will also be letting our creator community know of our decision."
Khalifa was also publicly fired from a psychedelic mushroom company after her post asking someone to tell the "freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal." Red Light Holland CEO Todd Shapiro informed Khalifa of her firing Saturday on X.
"This is such a horrendous tweet @miakhalifa. Consider yourself fired effective immediately," Shapiro wrote in response to her post. "Simply disgusting. Beyond disgusting. Please evolve and become a better human being. The fact you are condoning death, rape, beatings and hostage taking is truly gross. No words can explain your ignorance. We need humans to come together, especially in the face of tragedy. I pray for you to become a better person. However, it clearly seems like it’s too late for you."
Khalifa then responded to Shapiro's post by saying she wanted to "make sure there's 4k footage of my people breaking down the walls of the open air prison they've been forced out of their homes and into so we have good options for the history books that write about how they freed themselves from apartheid."
"Please worry about your sad little company lacking direction and purpose before you utter my name again," Khalifa wrote. "I stand with all people fighting oppression, now and always, do your research before begging for my investment in your little project, I’m from LEBANON, are you insane for expecting me to be on the side of colonialism you f---ing weirdo."
